Following in the footsteps of Jack Nicholson in "The Witches of Eastwick," Al Pacino now tackles the role of the Devil. Since the character is obviously the ultimate "bad guy," an actor must make sure to create him in a fashion where the audience will like him -- at least for part of the film. If he were all fire and brimstone right from the start we wouldn't, nor would any of the other characters get close to him. Thus Pacino, like Nicholson, keeps the devilish grin, but creates an intense, but also carefree character whose actions personify who he really is. I mean really, once you get a look at his office and apartment, there's no doubting as to his real identity. So, the fun of the movie must come from his seduction of the innocent, who in this case is played by Keanu Reeves. Adopting a southern accent that occasionally slips away, Reeves does a fine job playing the gung ho attorney, and is surprisingly believable in the role. Pacino, as always, is superb and does get to chew on the scenery a bit in a few over-the-top moments, but for the most part is also quite believable and certainly always fun to watch.
The plot is strong enough to sustain our interest despite the overly long, and nearly two and a half hour run time. Of course its strength comes from the fact that it's essentially a truly more evil version of "The Firm." The story's the same: A hotshot attorney is wooed by a prestigious, but mysterious law firm (in the North now instead of the south) and he and his lovely wife accept and move across the country. She soon finds herself never seeing her husband who spends more and more hours working on cases, so she hangs out with the other wives instead. (Sound familiar?) He then begins to get a little suspicious about the firm's actions, while she gets the creeps about the whole situation. (Which movie are we talking about?) Once they figure out what's going on, it's too late -- and in this movie, this firm is truly more evil than the other.
While the movie is rather enjoyable to watch and offers some incredibly fun twists at the end (which we'll not divulge), it suffers from something of a split plot problem. Whereas in "The Firm" Tom Cruise actively tried to figure out what was going on, and once he did, worked to fix his problem, Keanu Reeve's character works with a problem associated with, but not headlining the main plot. So by now you know that Milton is the Devil and his firm is one big evil law firm. We want to see Keanu take them on, to be active in figuring out what's happening and then solve the problem. Instead he focuses on a court case that's related to that bigger issue, but isn't overly active there either. Audiences want to see active, not reactive characters, and that diminishes the film's overall impression and "fun" factor. It works the way it's created -- and is enjoyable -- but it could have been far more enjoyable had they adopted the active character design.
Director Taylor Hackford, working from a script by Jonathan Lemkin and Tony Gilroy, also never fully explores or explains Mary Ann's descent into madness. It would have made sense had her actions caused Kevin to question Milton and his firm, or if Milton had induced her visions because of that. It simply stands that she's the one who can really see what's going on, and while it's sometimes quite frightening, it's never really explained. As events unfold through the course of the film, they do get more spooky, and there are a few quite thrilling scenes. Marching toward its end, however, the film leans toward the excessive as any sense of realism leaps from the window to get out of the way of the hellish theatrical fireworks that are soon to follow. Of course judging a film for losing realism when it's dealing with the plot of the Devil running a law firm is itself somewhat absurd. And I suppose the big ending is what everyone expects, but it approaches a campy level as it all draws to a close. Even so, despite its similarity to "The Firm," this film feels fresh and certainly is different from most other fare that Hollywood's lately been dumping into the theaters. With good, solid performances and a decent, but familiar plot, "Devil's Advocate" is a fun, several hour escape in a darkened theater. We give it a 7.5 out of 10.
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